Bob Kraft, the 77-year-old billionaire N.F.L. owner caught up in an investigation into alleged prostitution, may yet avoid his day in court. A person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Florida prosecutors have offered Kraft a plea deal: in exchange for dropping the charges against him, Kraft would have to admit that he would’ve been found guilty had his case gone to trial. In addition to copping to soliciting prostitution, Kraft would have to complete 100 hours of community service, take an education course about prostitution, pay for court costs, and get screened for S.T.D.s. A spokesperson for the state attorney’s office told the Journal that the deal is the standard offer for first-time offenders. At present, it’s not clear whether Kraft will accept. (When the charges were initially announced, a spokesman for Kraft denied that he had done anything illegal.)

Jupiter police charged Kraft as part of a covert operation that played out over several months across multiple cities in South Florida. Investigators reportedly monitored local spas, including the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, for months, installing cameras on the premises to collect video evidence. Prosecutors say they observed Kraft enter the spa “on two occasions and saw him pay cash and receive sex acts.” His identity was confirmed in a traffic stop after the fact, according to law enforcement. In announcing the operation, Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerrsaid the department was “as equally stunned as everybody else” when they made the allegation that Kraft was one of the Orchids of Asia patrons.

Plea deal or no plea deal, Kraft may not face any consequences for that alleged patronage. Some have questioned Jupiter police’s methods when it came to monitoring the spas, not to mention how law enforcement has characterized the case. “The police are making this case that this is a major human-trafficking ring, and that’s why it’s so serious,” Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor, told the Journal. “The fact that they had cameras installed in the locations for so long somewhat undermines the claim that there was an extraordinary danger to the people working in the establishment.” Among the other executives named in the sting operation was John Childs, founder of the private-equity firm J.W. Childs Associates. (Childs has denied any wrongdoing.)

Still, the incident has brought an uncomfortable level of scrutiny to the world of Donald Trump, who counts Kraft as a close friend, and who told reporters after news of Kraft’s charges broke that he was “surprised,” emphasizing that the Patriots owner “has denied it.” Subsequent reports revealed that Li “Cindy” Yang, the former owner of Orchids of Asia (under the name Tokyo Day Spa), had frequently rubbed shoulders with the Trump clan, and even possibly engineered a side-hustle selling Chinese clients access to the president and other political officials.